How do I find funders for a grassroots environment nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on grassroots environment organizations, currently City of Muskogee Foundation Inc, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Conservative Energy Network. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.

What counts as a grassroots organization here?

Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: grassroots (under $1M). Cause is its NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File.

How much grant money goes to grassroots environment organizations?

$1.1B reached 4,837 grassroots environment organizations from 8,257 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.

How recent is this data?

It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

Causes · Environment · grassroots

Who funds grassroots environment organizations

The funders that back grassroots environment organizations are specialists, not generalists: City of Muskogee Foundation Inc gives them 189.3× the national rate, with 80% of its grants going here. These are the small organizations the big-institution funders usually miss, so the funders that show up here are the ones worth a small environment nonprofit's time.

$1.1B

granted

4,837

organizations

8,257

funders

The short version

8,257 funders gave $1.1B to 4,837 grassroots environment organizations (grassroots (under $1M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is City of Muskogee Foundation Inc, giving 189.3× the national rate to grassroots environment organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, at $26M.
The grassroots environment organization drawing the most is Bristol Bay Heritage Land Trust, at $19M.

Funders most focused on grassroots environment organizations

Not the biggest checks, the most committed: each gives this size and cause an outsized share of its budget against the national rate, shrunk toward that rate so a small specialist needs real volume to rank.

City of Muskogee Foundation Inc189.3×$11M · 80% of its giving Maine Coast Heritage Trust172.2×$10M · 73% of its giving Conservative Energy Network166.2×$4M · 100% of its giving The Conservation Fund a Nonprofit161.4×$23M · 60% of its giving Butler Parklands Inc124.7×$2M · 95% of its giving Angela J Bowen Conservancy Foundation122.3×$2M · 98% of its giving Jay Henges Charitable Trust115.4×$3M · 75% of its giving Watersheds United Vermont Inc114.4×$3M · 71% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

Real grantmakers giving the most to grassroots environment organizations (donor-advised and mega-funds excluded).

1National Fish and Wildlife Foundation$26M 2The Conservation Fund a Nonprofit$23M 3United States Energy Foundation$16M 4City of Muskogee Foundation Inc$11M 5Maine Coast Heritage Trust$10M 6Resources Legacy Fund$8M 7Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils$8M 8Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines$8M

Grassroots environment organizations that draw the most

Sized by grant dollars received. Pick one to see exactly who funds it.

4,827 other grassroots environment organizations$986M

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a grassroots environment nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on grassroots environment organizations, currently City of Muskogee Foundation Inc, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Conservative Energy Network. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.
What counts as a grassroots organization here?: Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: grassroots (under $1M). Cause is its NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File.
How much grant money goes to grassroots environment organizations?: $1.1B reached 4,837 grassroots environment organizations from 8,257 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.
How recent is this data?: It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

More from the funding graph

The regranting layer

51% of grant dollars pass through an intermediary

The DAF merry-go-round

$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds

Strange bedfellows

the named clusters of US funding

The camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

By state

where grant money is based, and what stays home

State money flows

the interactive map of money crossing state lines

Size is median total revenue; cause is the recipient's NTEE classification in the IRS Business Master File. Read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML across recent fiscal years, among (c)(3) funders and recipients resolved by EIN, with the regranting layer netted out. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.